For social dancers,stamina doesn't make a whole lot of difference. If you're tired, you sit one out.

But,for competitive dancers, stamina or lack thereof can make the difference between making it through the final round looking and feeling fresh or wilting like yesterday's flowers.

So. Competitive dancers, what kinds of things do you incorporate into your training program to build stamina? Do you run rounds? Do you cross train?Or does stamina automatically come along for the ride, when you do your other dance training?

we use social dance as our stamina training. as we know most of the NV dancers and the songs they play re for three minutes, we maintain shape and styling for that duration, where as on the comp floor most of the time it is a1.20 and max 2.00.

We always have a cardiac bracket which is VW, tango and quickstep one after the other for three minutes that will do it and we do that twice during the evening. Trying to dance very dance with quality is the best stamina training you can have.

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Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty. ~Author UnknownDance Forum

that is about it. we are breaking down our dancing though into the pieces that don't work as well as we would like. it is starting to work early well nd getting better at adjusting onto smaller floors. staminia is so important.... dance as much as you can at the intensity you need to compete.

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Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty. ~Author UnknownDance Forum

that is about it. we are breaking down our dancing though into the pieces that don't work as well as we would like. it is starting to work early well nd getting better at adjusting onto smaller floors. staminia is so important.... dance as much as you can at the intensity you need to compete.

...especially in the early rounds: its a balance, enough energy to get through but not so much that you are exhausted in the final round.

what I am finding lately is that they seem to have you on and off the floor quite often and then a big gap!. That is hard work to have to fire yourself up again!. I now have a nice warm tracksuit and that has help to keep me warm. And my Dark 90% chocolate for a quick buzz not too much sugar but enough. But after all that energy output yesterday I am flat today because I gave it 110%

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Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty. ~Author UnknownDance Forum

what I am finding lately is that they seem to have you on and off the floor quite often and then a big gap!. That is hard work to have to fire yourself up again!. I now have a nice warm tracksuit and that has help to keep me warm. And my Dark 90% chocolate for a quick buzz not too much sugar but enough. But after all that energy output yesterday I am flat today because I gave it 110%

Good point about maintaining the 'urge'. I never really noticed that; perhaps I'm terrified all the time

what I am finding lately is that they seem to have you on and off the floor quite often and then a big gap!. That is hard work to have to fire yourself up again!. I now have a nice warm tracksuit and that has help to keep me warm. And my Dark 90% chocolate for a quick buzz not too much sugar but enough. But after all that energy output yesterday I am flat today because I gave it 110%

Good point about maintaining the 'urge'. I never really noticed that; perhaps I'm terrified all the time

Interesting I am never terrified I love to get out there and perform. a bit of butterflies the night before but on the day all systems go!.

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Dance is a delicate balance between perfection and beauty. ~Author UnknownDance Forum

what I am finding lately is that they seem to have you on and off the floor quite often and then a big gap!. That is hard work to have to fire yourself up again!. I now have a nice warm tracksuit and that has help to keep me warm. And my Dark 90% chocolate for a quick buzz not too much sugar but enough. But after all that energy output yesterday I am flat today because I gave it 110%

Good point about maintaining the 'urge'. I never really noticed that; perhaps I'm terrified all the time

Interesting I am never terrified I love to get out there and perform. a bit of butterflies the night before but on the day all systems go!.

Then you are a natural! I've always had performance anxiety when I try something new but after a few exposures it goes away - I'm certainly used to dancing now (least I was; its been a while since I competed so it may have come back...).

we use social dance as our stamina training. as we know most of the NV dancers and the songs they play re for three minutes, we maintain shape and styling for that duration, where as on the comp floor most of the time it is a1.20 and max 2.00.

We always have a cardiac bracket which is VW, tango and quickstep one after the other for three minutes that will do it and we do that twice during the evening. Trying to dance very dance with quality is the best stamina training you can have.

I agree, I think the social dance is a terrific opportunity to practice a lot of things for competition, including endurance. Like QPO said, each dance is usually played much longer and with all the other couples on the floor, floor craft and endurance can both be checked off. Social dancing, used together with rounds training, can eliminate physical and mental endurance issues.